Breaking the \(\frac{1}{2}\)-barrier for the twisted second moment of Dirichlet \(L\)-functions (Q2189481)

This paper proves an asymptotic formula for the sum \[ \sum_{\chi(\mathrm{mod}\; q)}{}\!\!\!\!^+ \;L(\tfrac12+\alpha,\chi) L(\tfrac12+\beta,\overline{\chi})|A(\chi)|^2 \] for an arbitrary Dirichlet polynomial \[ A(\chi)=\sum_{n\le q^{\kappa}}a_n\chi(n), \] whenever \(\kappa<1/2+1/202\). Here \(q\) is an odd prime,and the superscript \(+\) indicates a sum over primitive even characters. The parameters \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) are required to have real parts \(O(1/\log q)\) and imaginary parts \(O(\log q)\). The asymptotic formula has an explicit but slightly complicated main term, and an error term which saves a small power of \(q\). The significance of the result is that \(\kappa\) can be strictly larger than \(\tfrac12\), and this allows the authors to deduce that \[ (\log q)^{9/4}\ll q^{-1}\sum_{\chi(\mathrm{mod}\; q)}{}^+ |L(\tfrac12,\chi)|^3\ll(\log q)^{9/4}. \] The paper also shows how to extend the permissible range for \(\kappa\) when the coefficients \(a_n\) have certain special structures. The proof produces sums \[ \sum_{u,v;\, uv\ll q^{1+\varepsilon}} \sum_{\substack{m,n\le q^{\kappa}\\ um\equiv\pm vn(\mathrm{mod}\; q)}} a_m\overline{a_n}, \] in which the condition \(um=\pm vn+qr\) gets re-interpreted as a congruence modulo \(n\). One can then apply the Poisson summation formula to produce sums involving Kloosterman fractions of the shape \(qrw\overline{m}/n\). In the ``balanced'' case, when \(um\) and \(vn\) have roughly the same size, one can use results on cancellation of sums of Kloosterman sums, due to \textit{W. Duke} et al. [Invent. Math. 128, No. 1, 23--43 (1997; Zbl 0873.11050)] and \textit{S. Bettin} and \textit{V. Chandee} [Adv. Math. 328, 1234--1262 (2018; Zbl 1448.11158)]. For the remaining ``unbalanced'' case the authors use an argument involving the additive large sieve.